RCMP Cpl. Daniela Panesar places a photo of Marrisa Shen, 13, next to a map indicating where her body was found in Central Park, during a news conference in Burnaby, B.C., on Wednesday, July 19, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

First-degree murder suspect Ibrahim Ali to appear in Vancouver court

A brief court appearance is expected today in provincial court in Vancouver for the man accused of the first-degree murder of a 13-year-old girl.

A brief court appearance is expected today in Vancouver provincial court for a man charged after the death of a teenage girl.

Ibrahim Ali was arrested last Friday and charged with first-degree murder in the Marrisa Shen homicide case.

The 13-year-old teen was found dead in Burnaby’s Central Park, not far from her home, just hours after her parents reported her missing on July 18, 2017.

When police announced Ali’s arrest on Monday, they said he had come to their attention just two weeks earlier, following an intense, year-long investigation described as the largest in the 15-year history of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Police say Ali is a Syrian national who moved to Burnaby as a refugee 17 months ago and is an employed, permanent resident of Canada with no prior criminal history.

Investigators have not said how Shen died or offered a motive for her death, and none of the allegations in the case have been tested in court.